Why was McLeish sacked?

[PeterWithesShin]

I've only ever hated one Villa manager. I've disliked some, I've hated their time in charge of us and been delighted when they left etc. But outright hated them, only Mr Fickle.

Although if we appointed Alan Pardew it would become two.

[supertom]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2012/may/14/alex-mcleish-sacking-aston-villa

Yes and some people look back on the Houllier / Mcallister reign with fondness.

To be honest, right now I'm looking back at the O Leary reign with a lot more fondness.
That's quite depressing to say that. Not even just his first season but an average second, and poor third season, the latter of which was better than the last 3 years to be honest. DOL buggered off having finished on 42 points. I can't see Lambert even "achieving" that. Very sad state of affairs.
Plus as bad as Doncaster was, it was a footballing masterclass compared to Bradford.

It wasn't the results that ade me feel the way I did about DOL, it was his attitude towards us.

In short, DOL was and is a Cnut who I having nothing but complete contempt for. I'll never feel that way about TSM or PL whatever happens.

Completely agree with every word of that. I have never and don't think I ever could ever again despise a manager as much as I did O'Leary by the end of his stay.

True but I just wonder if, the longer Lambert stays and the more we start getting on his back, whether his "fickle" moment is going to happen. He's a stubborn guy and headstrong, and he's probably got it in him. O Leary did 3 years, Lamberts just coming up to finishing his second. Whether he gets a third, and the opportunity to spectacularly lose the fans, remains to be seen. For his sake and ours, he needs turfing out in the summer.

[OzVilla]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2012/may/14/alex-mcleish-sacking-aston-villa

Yes and some people look back on the Houllier / Mcallister reign with fondness.

To be honest, right now I'm looking back at the O Leary reign with a lot more fondness.
That's quite depressing to say that. Not even just his first season but an average second, and poor third season, the latter of which was better than the last 3 years to be honest. DOL buggered off having finished on 42 points. I can't see Lambert even "achieving" that. Very sad state of affairs.
Plus as bad as Doncaster was, it was a footballing masterclass compared to Bradford.

It wasn't the results that ade me feel the way I did about DOL, it was his attitude towards us.

In short, DOL was and is a Cnut who I having nothing but complete contempt for. I'll never feel that way about TSM or PL whatever happens.

Completely agree with every word of that. I have never and don't think I ever could ever again despise a manager as much as I did O'Leary by the end of his stay.

True but I just wonder if, the longer Lambert stays and the more we start getting on his back, whether his "fickle" moment is going to happen. He's a stubborn guy and headstrong, and he's probably got it in him. O Leary did 3 years, Lamberts just coming up to finishing his second. Whether he gets a third, and the opportunity to spectacularly lose the fans, remains to be seen. For his sake and ours, he needs turfing out in the summer.

Oh it wasn't just the fickle comments. If only it were.

His non stop banging on about Leeds.
His gushing over Arsenal and whose almost werent worthy to share the pitch with them.
His flippant comments about our support- constantly.
His comments comparing us unfavorably to Charlton.
His total lack of knowledge about our history and traditions- have Villa won the FA Cup!
His finding more passion to pursuing bar maids than he could mulster for managing our club.

Need I go on!

[supertom]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2012/may/14/alex-mcleish-sacking-aston-villa

Yes and some people look back on the Houllier / Mcallister reign with fondness.

To be honest, right now I'm looking back at the O Leary reign with a lot more fondness.
That's quite depressing to say that. Not even just his first season but an average second, and poor third season, the latter of which was better than the last 3 years to be honest. DOL buggered off having finished on 42 points. I can't see Lambert even "achieving" that. Very sad state of affairs.
Plus as bad as Doncaster was, it was a footballing masterclass compared to Bradford.

It wasn't the results that ade me feel the way I did about DOL, it was his attitude towards us.

In short, DOL was and is a Cnut who I having nothing but complete contempt for. I'll never feel that way about TSM or PL whatever happens.

Completely agree with every word of that. I have never and don't think I ever could ever again despise a manager as much as I did O'Leary by the end of his stay.

True but I just wonder if, the longer Lambert stays and the more we start getting on his back, whether his "fickle" moment is going to happen. He's a stubborn guy and headstrong, and he's probably got it in him. O Leary did 3 years, Lamberts just coming up to finishing his second. Whether he gets a third, and the opportunity to spectacularly lose the fans, remains to be seen. For his sake and ours, he needs turfing out in the summer.

Oh it wasn't just the fickle comments. If only it were.

His non stop banging on about Leeds.
His gushing over Arsenal and whose almost werent worthy to share the pitch with them.
His flippant comments about our support- constantly.
His comments comparing us unfavorably to Charlton.
His total lack of knowledge about our history and traditions- have Villa won the FA Cup!
His finding more passion to pursuing bar maids than he could mulster for managing our club.

Need I go on!

Still...42 points. That's not to be sniffed at!

No, he was a prize cock. I'm not denying that. But in managerial terms he had a level of competence that Lambert has yet to manage and we played some cracking stuff in his first season.
That said I'm far from getting misty eyed over his regime.

[Ads]

The first season of O'Leary we went on a really good run startig just after Christmas when we beat Blackburn 2-0 at Ewood Park. The 93rd minute winner at Boro was a good result with ten men too.

We saw what O'Leary could do without money though, which was struggle.

O'Leary, like Grogory and O'Neill had an advantage in that they were inheriting squads that had the likes of Yorke, Southgate, Taylor, Barry, Mellberg, JPA, Laursen in them, it gives you something to start with.

[supertom]

The first season of O'Leary we went on a really good run startig just after Christmas when we beat Blackburn 2-0 at Ewood Park. The 93rd minute winner at Boro was a good result with ten men too.

We saw what O'Leary could do without money though, which was struggle.

O'Leary, like Grogory and O'Neill had an advantage in that they were inheriting squads that had the likes of Yorke, Southgate, Taylor, Barry, Mellberg, JPA, Laursen in them, it gives you something to start with.

Funnily enough it was only when O Leary got a fair(ish) wedge to spend in his final summer, that things went really bad for him. Baros did okay, albeit was inconsistent, and perhaps like Phillips, scoring against the Blose probably put a positive spin on an otherwise mediocre season, but of course it didn't work out with Berger or Bouma (initially). The less said about Bakke the better. Granted only a loan but we'd have been forking out a fair bit on his wages.

[Ads]

I remember thinking we could make Europe, top six at the least and then boom, Marelin Harewood scored a hatrick to set the note for the season. It also soured England winning the Ashes.

[SoccerHQ]

O'Leary never got us and was always going on about Leeds and small squads and sugarbags and some other random stuff, he always had an agenda going on.

In fairness for the first 18 months he got us playing some really decent football and we were top 6 in the league.

The less said about the second half of his reign the better. 05/06 was what we get pretty much nowadays, embarrassing cup defeats and a relegation battle.

[supertom]

What's more annoying?:

"Honest bunch of lads"

or

"We go again"

[Ads]

Lambert talks about how big a club this is and the need to meet the expectations of the fans. O'Leary would say that we cannot compete with the Charlton's of this world.

[Isa]

Our fans are totally fickle though. O'Leary was completely right.

[Ger Regan]

Well off the top of my head there's chelsea at home this season, liverpool away (twice), arsenal away, sunderland at home last season, some excellent football and brilliant goals scored. I'm not denying the shit that has also gone on, but what I've listed alone is better than anything that mcleish did.

So what, every team in the land however poor they are gets the occasional decent result and performance, and McLeish and Lambert are no different.
They both inflicted pain onto Villa, and one of them is still here as well!

The discussion was to do with a comparison of mcleish and lambert. My view is that Lambert has done more in his time here than TSM managed, and the items listed above alone would, imo, back that claim up.

To say that there have been absolutely no positives in Lambert's time is equally as laughable as if someone was to try and argue that everything is brilliant.

Do you still feel the same after today?

Yes I do, as a matter of fact. Another negative (to add to the many he's accumulated) doesn't mean that previous positives have been erased from history. And for clarity, this isn't a defense of lambert, or wishing he's kept on as manager. It's simply acknowledging that it hasn't been *all* bad.

[OzVilla]

Our fans are totally fickle though. O'Leary was completely right.

Ill give you the benefit of the doubt and say youre tongue is firmly planted in your cheek.

If not then i Couldn't disagree more. Our attendances considering we've won something like 15 home wins out of the last 60 is excellent. Average similar to Everton who are pushing for Champions League again.

If y want to see shit support, support that halves in 3 years I humbly suggest you look across the City.

Home support didn't turn n TSM until penultimate home game, another defeat to fellow strugglers and eventual relegated side Bolton . PL has had virtually no crowd discontent. Maybe it's stirring as I really wouldn't blame anybody after yesterday's game anymore.

Oh, have I mentioned that DOL was a complete wanker.

[Malandro]

I'm starting to forget how bad things were under Mcleish

[Richard E]

Well, it certainly didn't include losing 3 successive games by an aggregate of 15-0, Cup exits to sides from all 3 lower divisions, one of them over two legs, and a minimum of 12 home defeats in one season.